Recycling of laminate floorings

ABSTRACT

Recycling of laminate flooring based on a separation of the panels into particles which are connected with a binder and formed to a new sheet shaped material. A building panel includes a surface layer and a wood fiber based core, and the wood fiber based core includes aluminium oxide particles.

PRIORITY

The present application claims priority to U.S. Ser. No. 60/988,990,filed on 19 Nov. 2007, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

AREA OF DISCLOSURE

The disclosure generally relates to the field of recycling wood fiberbased panels, especially laminate floorings. The disclosure provides newsheet materials and methods to produce such materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

In particular, yet not restrictive manner, the disclosure concernsrecycling of sheet shaped panels comprising wood fibers, especiallylaminates floorings. However, the disclosure is as well applicable tobuilding panels in general. The present disclosure is particularlysuitable for use in floating floors, which are formed of floorboardswhich are made up of one or more preferably moisture-proof upper layersof decorative laminate or decorative plastic material, an intermediatecore of wood-fiber-based material or plastic material and preferably alower balancing layer on the rear side of the core.

The following description of known techniques, problems of known systemsand objects and features of the disclosure will therefore, as anon-restrictive example, be aimed above all at this field of applicationand in particular laminate flooring. However, it should be emphasizedthat the disclosure can be used in optional floorboards where thefloorboards preferably have a core and at least one surface layer, Thedisclosure can thus also be applicable to, for instance, floors with oneor more surface layers of wood, plastic material, flexible fibers suchas needle felt or combinations of different materials, for instancewood, plastic, cork, rubber or other materials that are used as surfacelayers in floors.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Laminate flooring usually comprises a core of a 6-12 mm fiberboard, a0.2-0.8 mm thick upper decorative surface layer of laminate and a0.1-0.6 mm thick lower balancing layer of laminate, plastic, paper orlike material. The surface layer provides appearance and durability tothe floorboards. The core provides stability, and the balancing layerkeeps the board plane when the relative humidity (RH) varies during theyear. The disclosure generally relates to the field of recycling of woodfiber based panels especially laminate floorings. The disclosureprovides new sheet materials and methods to produce such materials.

The floorboards are usually laid floating, i.e. without gluing, on anexisting sub floor which does not have to be completely smooth or plane.Traditional hard floorboards in floating flooring of this type haveusually been joined by means of glued tongue-and-groove joints.

In addition to such traditional floors, which are joined by means ofglued tongue-and-groove joints, floorboards have recently been developedwhich do not require the use of glue and instead are joined mechanicallyby means of so-called mechanical joint systems. These systems compriselocking means, which lock the boards horizontally and/or vertically.

The main advantages of floating floors with mechanical joint systems arethat they can easily and quickly by laid by various combinations ofinward angling, snapping-in and displacement along the joint edge. Thefloorboards can also easily be taken up again and used once more at adifferent location.

The most common core material is fiberboard with high density and goodstability usually called HDF—High Density Fiberboard. Sometimes alsoMDF—Medium Density Fiberboard—is used as core. As a rule, these corematerials are of high quality.

HDF is produced as follows: Roundwood such as for example pine, larch orspruce are reduced to wood chips and then broken down into fibres in arefiner. The fibres are thereafter mixed with a thermosetting binder andthen subjected to high pressure and temperature in a press. Fibres arebonded to each other with the cured binder.

DEFINITION OF SOME TERMS

In the following text, the visible surface of the installed floor panelis called “front side”, while the opposite side of the floor panel,facing the sub floor, is called “rear side”. The sheet-shaped materialthat comprises the major part of a floor panel is called “core”. Thenthe core is coated with a surface layer closest to the front side andpreferably also a balancing layer closest to the rear side, it forms asemi-manufacture, which is called “floor board” or “floor element” inthe case where the semi-manufacture, in a subsequent operation, isdivided into a plurality of floor elements. Then the floor elements aremachined along their edges so as to obtain their final shape with thejoint system, they are called “floor panels”. By “surface layer” aremeant all layers applied to the core closest to the front side andcovering preferably the entire front side of the floorboard. By“decorative surface layer” is meant a layer, which is mainly intended togive the floor its decorative appearance. “Wear layer” relates to alayer, which is mainly adapted to improve the durability of the frontside.

By “horizontal plane” is meant a plane, which extends parallel to theouter part of the surface layer. By “horizontally” is meant parallel tothe horizontal plane and by “vertically” is meant perpendicularly to thehorizontal plane. By “up” is meant towards the front face and by “down”towards the rear face.

KNOWN TECHNIQUES AND PROBLEMS THEREOF

The above techniques can be used to manufacture laminate floorings thatare highly natural copies of wooden flooring. In recent years,imitations of stones, tiles and the like have become more and morecommon. All theses advanced designs are much more attractive than thedesigns produced in the past 20 years and they are sold at very lowprices

Laminate flooring is very wear resistant and the lifetime could exceedabout 15-20 years in a normal home environment. In public areas such asshops, hotels and similar the lifetime could be about 5 years. Laminatefloorings are not possible to repair by a sanding of the surface as woodfloorings. Many old laminate floors must be replaced soon due to thefact that the surface layer is destroyed. New attractive pattern and theeasy way of removing and replacing the floor will also gradually createlarge volumes of laminate floor that will be disposed just due to thefact that the consumer wants a more attractive floor.

The most common way to dispose or to destruct a laminate floor is toburn the product. This leads to environmental pollution and aconsiderable waste of raw materials. Even in the case that the floorpanels are burned in a process that generates energy and where the gasesare cleaned as much as possible, there is a considerable negative effecton the environment. It would be a great advantage if laminate flooringscould be recycled and if the fiber based material could be used in acost effective way to produce other type of materials, preferable asheet shaped materials.

It is known that fibers could be recycled during the production of a HDFmaterial. It is also known that old floor panels could be used aspackaging material. All these applications can not solve theconsiderable problem of some 100 millions of square meters of laminatefloorings that will be disposed annually in the next coming years.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure aims to solve the problem of mainly laminatefloorings that must be disposed.

The disclosure is based on a first basic understanding that suchfloorings should not be destructed in a process that creates gases andthat have a negative influence on the environment.

The disclosure is also based on a second understanding that the rawmaterial of a used floor board should be reused preferably completelyand that a new multi purpose sheet shaped product should be produced ofthe raw material of the used floor board. The new multi purpose sheetshaped product could be used as a building panel, preferably as a core,and/or a surface layer and/or a balancing in a new floor panel.

A main objective of the disclosure is to solve the environmentalproblems of old laminate panels that are intended to be disposed.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provideda building panel, which is made of recycled material from an oldlaminate floor panel, with a surface layer and a wood fiber based core(6), which comprises aluminium oxide particles. The building panel ispreferably provided with a balancing layer.

Such a new panel, which is produced from recycled original laminatefloor panels of different qualities and material compositions and whichcomprises all the original materials and chemicals, could have bondingstrength, moisture and impact resistance similar to or even better thanthe original panel. A surprising effect is that the original materialssuch as aluminium oxide and melamine particles and wood fibers coated orimpregnated with cured binders, will not have a negative effect on theproperties of the new panel, if such materials are mechanically cut intosmall particles and mixed with a suitable binder and pressed to a panel.

The mechanical cutting will create particles with rough and increasedsurface portions. This will increase the bonding strength.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method to recycle a used laminate floor panel into a corethat could be used to produce building panels. The method includes stepsof:

a) Mechanical cutting of the panel into particles

b) Mixing said particles with a binder

c) Pressing the mixed particles and the binder and thereby forming asheet shaped material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will in the following be described in connection topreferred embodiments and in greater detail with reference to theappended exemplary drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1 a-e show a cutting of a laminate floor panel into particles;

FIGS. 2 a-b show a production method of producing a core materialcomprising recycled materials according to an embodiment of theinvention; and

FIGS. 3 a-d show a production method according to an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 a shows a laminated floor panel 1 according to known technologycomprising a surface layer 5, a core 6 and a balancing layer 7. FIG. 1 cshows the surface layer 5. It has an upper wear layer 13 of atransparent material with great wearing strength. Such a wear layergenerally comprises a transparent paper impregnated with melamine resinand with aluminium oxide particles 12 added. A decorative layer 10,comprising of paper with a printed pattern 11 is impregnated withmelamine resin and placed under this transparent wear layer 13. The wearlayer 13 and the decorative layer 10 are laminated to the core,generally a fiber based core such as HDF, under pressure and heat to anabout 0.2 mm thick surface layer 5. FIG. 1 b shows the balancing layer 7that generally also is a melamine impregnated paper. This balancinglayer keeps the floor panel flat when humidity varies over time. Thetransparent wear layer is generally 0.05-0.10 mm thick.

The build up of the used Laminate Floor could vary. Some Laminate Floorhas a sound reduction material applied on the backside of the floor.This material could be a different kind of plastic material or othermaterial that can cause blisters or delamination in a new board producedof used Laminate Floor.

Therefore the sound reduction material is preferably removed by aseparate operation. The separation is preferably made with a rotatingknife cylinder. The removed material can for example be burned or usedas filler in various applications. Some plastic material could berecycled to for example a new sound insulation material.

Other Laminate Floor does not have any sound reduction material. Thosetypes of floors are ready for next step in the process.

In this operation it is also possible to remove the melamine surfacelayer and the balancing layer. It is preferred however according to thedisclosure to recycle the whole laminate floor panel including thesurface layer 5 and the balancing layer 7.

The used laminate floor panels have different sizes that vary from smallpieces up to plank sizes.

This material has to be reduced in size preferably to chips or particlesof a size of 0.01-10 mm. The sizing can be done in different ways.Appropriate equipment is for example a knife or hammer mill where thesize of the cut particles can be adjusted by changing the holes throughwhich the separated particles can leave the cutting equipment.

The cut material particles comprise three types of material compositionsas shown in FIG. 1 d. Some particles are mainly wood fibers 14 or woodfiber chips, some comprise mainly parts (10,12) from the surface layer5, such as mainly decorative paper 10, melamine flakes from the overlay13 and aluminium oxide 12 particles and finally parts comprisingmelamine 15 from the balancing layer. All particles are preferablycollected in a container for storing for next cutting step. Such firstseparation could be made at special collection stations.

The cutting of the used Laminate Floor can of course also be done in anordinary MDF and HDF plant by using the normal production facilities.

If the particles comprising melamine are intended to be used in a newhigh quality board, it is preferred, as an alternative to cutting intosmall particles, to sand the surface layer and the balancing layer priorto separation.

A new board produced of an unsanded original laminate floor could have alower bending strength and tensile strength compared to a new boardproduced of a sanded original laminate floor. The reason is that it isvery difficult to bond the wood fibers to the smooth melamine surfaceportions. Sanding or cutting into small particles will increase thebonding between the melamine particles and the fibers.

The sanding operation could be done with a normal sanding machine, usedin the wooden and laminate industry. The used sandpaper grit is around80.

The particles could be further reduced in size to for example 0.01-1 mmwith sieving and they could now be used as raw material in a boardproduction.

The particles could also be separated into for example three differentmaterial types, mainly wood fibers 14 or wood fiber chips, mainly parts(10,12) from the surface layer 5, such as mainly decorative paper 10 andmelamine flakes from the overlay 13 and aluminium oxide 12, and finallyparts 15 comprising melamine from the balancing layer. These materialscould be used separately to form a new board material or as filler orthey could all be included in various parts of a new board material.

In order to form a board for a building panel or a laminate floor,fibers and chips of different kinds are mixed together with a binder inorder to bond the fibers together and to give the board certainproperties such as bending strength, tensile strength, and resistanceagainst moisture etc.

The cutting into particles or chips results in different fractions offibers that could be rather long fibers as in the original panel,smaller fibers and very small fibers or fiber powder. The fibers, whichare impregnated with melamine and cured in the initial HDF process, areof a very high quality and very suitable to form for example surfacelayers in a floorboard. The chips comprising melamine and aluminiumoxide have different properties. They could be used to form high densityand wear resistant portions in the floorboard.

The fiber fractions and chips are mixed with a powder resin, e.g.,melamine resin—Kauramin 772, preferably separately. This gives thepossibility to form a board with different layers and differentproperties in the layers.

The amount of powder resin/melamine can vary from 5 up to 25-weight %.To produce a normal board for a laminate floor, 10 to 15 weight % ispreferred. The mixing of fibers and (melamine) powder resin can be donein a tank with a paint stirrer. The mixing time could be around 5 min.

When the different fibers are mixed with powder melamine resin, thedifferent fractions are stored in separately storing containers.

Other types of resins are of course possible to use, e.g., melamine/urearesins and phenol resins are all possible to use in powder shape or inliquid conditions.

Using powder resins makes it easy to mix the different types of fibersand chips with natural wood chips or glass fiber. This is a dry process.No energy is needed for drying.

When using resins in a solution, the resin has to be applied by, e.g.,spraying. Then the coated fibers have to be dried and energy has to beadded.

In this stage of the process it is also possible to add other types offibers, e.g., virgin fiber or the type of fibers that are used formanufacturing of MDF or HDF. Those fibers could be mixed with, e.g.,powder melamine resin and stored in a separate container.

FIG. 2 a shows a preferred production method to produce the woodfiberboard according to the disclosure. A first layer 6 comprising allparticles from the recycled laminate floor mixed with a binder isapplied on a conveyor belt 20. The production method could preferablyand optionally comprise an intermediate pressing step, where the woodfibers are partly compressed with a roller 21 or with a continuouspressing equipment or a similar device. The fibers are preferably notcured, at least not completely, in this production step.

The prepressed layers are thereafter pressed under heat and pressure ina preferably continuous press 23 and the fibers and chips are bondedtogether with the binder, which cures under heat and pressure to a boardmaterial. All parts of the laminate flooring have been reused. Adiscontinuous press with one or several openings could also be used.

The binder is preferably a melamine-formaldehyde resin. The pressure ispreferably about 300N-800 N/cm² and the temperature could be 120-220degrees C. The pressing time could vary for example from 20 seconds to 5minutes depending on the production speed, panel thickness, binders etc.The density of the board is preferably 700-1000 kg/m³. It is possible toproduce very moisture and impact resistant board material with a densityof 1000-1500 kg/m³.

FIG. 2 b shows a production method to produce the wood fiber floor panelaccording to another principle of the disclosure. In this case recycledparticles or chips only or recycled particles mixed with virgin fiberscould be used. A first layer 7 comprising the balancing layer is appliedon a conveyor 20. A second layer 6 comprising the core layer is appliedon the balancing layer. These two layers comprise preferably wood fibersand a binder only. A third layer, the surface layer 5, is applied on thecore layer 6. The surface layer 5 comprises wood fibers, a binder andwear resistant particles. The surface layer 5 could also comprise colourpigments that could give the surface layer a basic colour. Theproduction method could preferably comprise an intermediate pressingstep, where the wood fibers are partly compressed with a roller 21 orwith continuous pressing equipment or a similar device. The fibers arepreferably not cured, at least not completely, at this production step.

Printing with for example an ink jet printer 22 or other type ofproduction equipment that gives the surface layer 5 decorative featurescould optionally be used in line with the production of the floorboard.The printing is preferably made on a pre pressed surface. The prepressed layers are after printing pressed under heat and pressure andthe fibers and the wear resistant particles are bonded together with thebinder, which cures under heat and pressure and a hard surface layer isobtained.

The binder is even here preferably a melamine-formaldehyde resin. Thepressure is preferably also about 300N-800 N/cm² and the temperaturecould be 120-220 degrees C. The pressing time could vary for examplefrom 20 seconds to 5 minutes depending on the production speed, panelthickness, binders etc. The density of the floorboard is preferably700-1000 kg/m³. It is possible to produce very moisture and impactresistant floorboards with a density of 1000-1500 kg/m³.

The floorboard could be used to form a floor panel without anyadditional layers. Alternatively laminated layers, paint, print etccould be applied as additional surface layers.

It is preferred to produce the whole floorboard in a continuous process.It is however possible to make the floorboard in several steps as shownin FIGS. 3 a-3 d. A separate surface layer 5 or a core layer 6 and evena balancing layer 7 could be produced according to the disclosure and asshown in FIG. 3 a and these layers could be connected with glue. Themost preferred method is however to produce the core 6 with the recycledmaterials and to apply surface layers the core 6. A balancing layer 7could also be applied. A surface layer 5 and a balancing layer 7comprising recycled materials could also be applied directly to a coreof for example HDF and these three layers could be pressed continuouslyor in a discontinuous press to a floorboard 3.

The floorboard 3 is generally in all of the alternatives described abovecut into individual floor elements 2 and their edges are generallymachined and formed to floor panels with mechanical locking systems 4,4′. All known locking systems allowing locking with angling, horizontaland vertical snapping, side push etc could be used.

Individual floor elements 2 or floor panels 1 could also be produced andparts of the locking system could for example be formed in the pressingoperation. Tile and stone shaped products could also be produced withoutany locking systems and they could be installed in the traditional wayby gluing to the sub floor.

The invention should not be considered as limited by the abovedescription; rather the scope and limitations of the invention aredefined by the enclosed claims, and equivalents thereof.

1. A method to recycle laminate floor panels including a wood fiberbased core, a decorative surface layer that includes a thermosettingresin and aluminium oxide, the method comprises: a) mechanical cuttingof the panel into particles; b) mixing said particles with a binder; andc) pressing the mixed particles and binder and thereby forming a sheetshaped material, wherein the method comprises mixing said particles witha melamine formaldehyde resin.
 2. A method to recycle laminate floorpanels including a wood fiber based core, a decorative surface layerthat includes a thermosetting resin and aluminium oxide, the methodcomprises: a) mechanical cutting of the panel into particles; b) mixingsaid particles with a binder; and c) pressing the mixed particles andbinder and thereby forming a sheet shaped material, wherein the pressingis made under heat, wherein the method comprises mixing said particleswith a melamine formaldehyde resin.
 3. A method to recycle laminatefloor panels including a wood fiber based core, a decorative surfacelayer that includes a thermosetting resin and aluminium oxide, themethod comprises: a) mechanical cutting of the panel into particles; b)mixing said particles with a binder; and c) pressing the mixed particlesand binder and thereby forming a sheet shaped material, wherein themethod further comprises separating particles essentially into a firstset of particles comprising substantially wood fibers and a second setof particles comprising substantially melamine before mixing at leastthe first set of elements with a binder.
 4. A method to recycle laminatefloor panels including a wood fiber based core, a decorative surfacelayer that includes a thermosetting resin and aluminium oxide, themethod comprises: a) mechanical cutting of the panel into particles; b)mixing said particles with a binder; and c) pressing the mixed particlesand binder and thereby forming a sheet shaped material, wherein thepressing is made under heat, wherein the method further comprisesseparating particles essentially into a first set of particlescomprising substantially wood fibers and a second set of particlescomprising substantially melamine before mixing at least the first setof elements with a binder.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe method further comprises separating particles essentially into afirst set of particles comprising substantially wood fibers and a secondset of particles comprising substantially melamine before mixing atleast the first set of elements with a binder.
 6. The method as claimedin claim 2, wherein the method further comprises separating particlesessentially into a first set of particles comprising substantially woodfibers and a second set of particles comprising substantially melaminebefore mixing at least the first set of elements with a binder.